Now that marijuana is legal for people with qualifying conditions, the state of Florida is trying to figure out who can sell it. A new bill would allow an unlimited amount of new growers to enter the marketplace.

Now that marijuana is legal for people with qualifying conditions, the state of Florida is trying to figure out who can sell it. A new bill would allow an unlimited amount of new growers to enter the marketplace.

Medical marijuana takes effect in Florida on Tuesday. Licensed doctors will be able to prescribe the drug for patients who meet the criteria, but as NBC-2 has reported, state regulators may take another year to set rules on how to dispense marijuana.

Medical marijuana takes effect in Florida on Tuesday. Licensed doctors will be able to prescribe the drug for patients who meet the criteria, but as NBC-2 has reported, state regulators may take another year to set rules on how to dispense marijuana.

Florida voters overwhelmingly approved expanding medical marijuana in November. Lawmakers must now decide whether the distribution systems needs to be altered from what was already in place and whether local government should be allowed to decide where dispensaries can be located.

Florida voters overwhelmingly approved expanding medical marijuana in November. Lawmakers must now decide whether the distribution systems needs to be altered from what was already in place and whether local government should be allowed to decide where dispensaries can be located.

It's been three months since Florida voters said yes to legalizing medical marijuana.

Five companies are already licensed to produce it, but we're still months away from thousands of sick patients being able to get their hands on it.

NBC2 Investigator Graham Hunter got an exclusive look at the facility where marijuana is grown for patients in Southwest Florida and how it's ready for expansion.

Think of it as a grow house on steroids, except instead of being hidden in a back room of someone's remotely-located home, it's a state-of-the-art facility working full steam to help those in need - like 15-year-old Juan Cruz.

Juan has always been the type of kid you couldn't help but notice.

"Since the age of four or five, he would dance," said his mom, Jacqueline Cuevas.

"He's a social butterfly."

Cuevas said Juan is special.

"I love my kids all the same, but it was just something about Juan."

Two years ago, she noticed a bump under her son's right eye.

"August 21, 2014, he was diagnosed with stage three spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma."

Juan had cancer at just 13 years of age.

He went into remission, then this: "They told us last year in December, actually two years ago, that he only had two weeks to live."

His family turned their focus to keeping Juan comfortable.

"He has been on several pain medications until he got up to the point where it was morphine," Cuevas said.

"He was up to a point where he was in so much pain he would tremble, cry. He would scream. He would pull his hair."

Full-strength medical marijuana has been available to select patients with terminal diseases since last year. Juan is one of them, the first child to receive the strongest strength of THC-CBD while thousands of others wait.

At a secret location just outside Tallahassee, NBC2 got an exclusive look at Florida's medical marijuana industry, at the Surterra Therapeutics Cultivation Facility.

Surterra produces CBD oil, also known as Charlotte's Web, and THC oil, by extracting the oils from marijuana plants. "To see just the relief on these people's faces when they receive their first product, knowing this could potentially change their life and make their quality of life a lot better, it was huge."

They're careful only to make the amount that can be given to patients, but they're preparing for the implementation of Amendment 2 - when they'll expand and make more marijuana. "We've already started ramping up."

Juan's mom has seen what medical marijuana can do for her son's suffering.

"He is more.. he's interacting with you," she said.

"We're praying for a miracle."

It makes giving her son what was once an illegal drug worth it.

"He's still here. He's still fighting."

When will patients under Amendment 2 be able to receive cannabis oil?

It's really up to the Florida Department of Health, which is tasked with setting the rules by June.

That plan has to be implemented by September - 10 months after it was passed by voters.

But state lawmakers can step in at any point and slow the process down even more.

2018-02-17T00:32:55Z2018-02-17T00:32:55ZConfessed Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz intends to plead guilty, Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said Friday. Finkelstein said the object is to avoid a painful trial and for Cruz not to get the death penalty.